Inside Higher Ed: Hey, You! Pay Attention!
The students sit in class, tapping away at their laptops as the boring old law professor mechanically plods through his lecture. Except one. Instead of hunching over a portable computer or a notebook, he’s playing solitaire with a deck of cards on his desk. The professor halts his droning. “What are you doing?” he demands. The student shrugs. “My laptop is broken,” he says.
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Posted in Academics
The Chronicle: Scientists May Be Putting Their Own Names on Papers Written by Companies
Papers that bear academic scientists’ names as authors, but are ghostwritten by for-profit companies, may be disturbingly common in medical journals, a new study indicates. Some of the scientists accused of being involved in that practice deny any wrongdoing, but journal editors are already outlining measures to prevent future breaches of academic integrity.
In the new issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association,four scientists have published the results of a search of court documents related to the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx, which has been withdrawn from the market because of concerns about its safety, and which has been the subject of hundreds of lawsuits.
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Chronicle News Blog: Faculty Coalition Urges Colleges to Investigate Clustering of Athletes in Easy Courses
An influential faculty-led athletics coalition issued a call this morning for colleges to investigate whether their athletes are clustered in certain majors and taking snap courses.
The announcement by the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, made up of more than 50 faculty senates at NCAA Division I-A institutions, comes in response to allegations that athletes at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor are steered into independent-study courses where some professors give them an easy pass.
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Inside Higher Ed: Distance Ed Continues Rapid Growth at Community Colleges
Community colleges reported an 18 percent increase in distance education enrollments in a 2007 survey released this weekend at the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges, in Philadelphia.
The survey on community colleges and distance education is an annual project of the Instructional Technology Council, an affiliate of the AACC. The survey is based on the responses of 154 community colleges, selected to provide a representational sample of all community colleges. Last year’s survey found community colleges reporting an increase in distance education enrollments of 15 percent.
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Los Angeles Times: UC panel seeks to drop extra SAT tests from admission requirements
The exams add little useful information on applicants, critics say.
The University of California may offer some relief to test-weary applicants by shedding part of a 40-year-old requirement for freshman admission. And many high school students are saying amen to that.
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The Times: ‘University challenge’ for 20 new campuses
Twenty new university campuses serving 10,000 students are to be built in England over the next six years in a drive to ensure that no region is left without access to higher education.
John Denham, the Universities Secretary, will today invite local authorities and regional development agencies to enter a “university challenge” to bid for funding for a campus or college in their area.
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San Francisco Chronicle: Agency rescinds New College’s accreditation
The accreditation for New College of California has been revoked, leaving the beleaguered San Francisco school with few options and signaling the likely end to the quirky institution.
College officials got official word Tuesday night from the school’s accrediting agency, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
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Nature: Lone Star vs Creationism
Editorial
Nature
February 28 200
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7182/full/4511030a.html
The battle against anti-scientific literalism continues.
Next stop Texas.
The creation-evolution debate in the United States is
ever-changing: any given week might bring good news for
science advocates in some states, but bad news in
others. At the moment, the good news is coming from
Florida, which on 19 February voted to adopt new science
standards that significantly strengthen the role of
evolution in the state’s biology curriculum (see page
1041.
But the next round of news will undoubtedly come from
Texas, where a state agency faces a decision whose
ramifications could resonate across the United States
for years to come. The Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board is considering an application by the
Institute for Creation Research (ICR) to grant online
master’s degrees in science education. And an advisory
panel to the board has recommended that Texas should
accept the application.
The ICR accepts the Bible as literal truth on all
topics. According to its website, the palaeoclimatology
class covers “climates before and after the Genesis
Flood”. Anatomy lab includes “limited discussion of
embryology and accompanying histology, specifically in
regards to evolutionary theory and its alternative – the
creation of fully functional major groups of animals”.
For most of its existence the ICR was ensconced in the
San Diego area, but in 2007 it relocated to Dallas, in
an apparent move to expand its national reach.
California may have been glad to see it go; the state
had been battling the ICR over accreditation since 1981,
when, under a sympathetic official, the institute first
got the go-ahead to offer degrees. But in Texas the ICR
must win approval from the state board to continue
setting up its graduate programmes before seeking
permanent accreditation.
The decision falls to the nine-member higher-education
board. It had been expected to vote on the issue in
January, but instead asked the ICR for more information
– about the research done by its faculty members, about
how an online course would teach experimental science,
and about why its curriculum is so different from other
degree-granting institutions in science education. A
vote is expected at the board’s 24 April meeting.
High-powered scientists in Texas are already weighing
in, asking board commissioner Raymund Paredes to deny
accreditation. And there are signs that the board is
listening. In a response to Nobel laureate Steven
Weinberg, Paredes wrote that “our primary criterion will
be how the proposed program will contribute to preparing
high school students to do rigorous science in higher
education”. One can only hope such rational approaches
will outweigh the primary ICR reaction, which has been
to send out a call for prayer.
Scientists in Texas and the rest of the country must
continue to make it clear to Paredes why the board
should deny accreditation to this organization. The ICR
has managed to con its way into the California
educational system for decades. Texas must not succumb
as well.
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The Guardian: Academics denounce courses tailored for businesses
Lecturers today condemned reports that the government is planning a major expansion of the role business plays in the delivery of degrees, warning it will lead to graduates being “churned out” of “identikit” institutions.
A leaked document, seen by the Financial Times, suggests that ministers are considering ploughing extra funding into degrees jointly designed and funded by employers.
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USA Today: Free college courses feed global hunger for learning
In 2002, when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started making course content available free online, project organizers had no idea their site would become a favorite destination for science junkies across the globe.
They posted lecture outlines and other materials primarily as a resource for fellow educators. But a whopping 55% of the 750,000 monthly visitors come from the ranks of “independent learners” who simply want the knowledge that once required a student ID.
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Posted in Academics, Open access
Inside Higher Ed: Reconsidering Open Enrollment
Two historically black colleges that have long been open to any student who graduates high school or passes an equivalency test could be changing their admissions policies if their presidents get their way.
George T. French Jr., president of Miles College, in Alabama, has charged a task force with reviewing the institution’s open enrollment policy with the aim of “creating a more stringent, selective admissions process,” according to a statement from French.
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Inside Higher Ed: Buying a Spot on the Syllabus
Some professors at Marshall University believe that the institution has crossed an ethical line by accepting a gift that requires that a specific book — Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged — be taught in a course.
While the criticisms have come from professors who are not fans of Rand’s philosophy, they stress that their objection has nothing to do with this particular book, and that they would have no problem with a professor making the choice to include it on a syllabus. Their concern, they said, is a university accepting a gift that requires any book to be taught — when book selection should be a faculty prerogative.
“Atlas Shrugged can be taught. It’s the required part that is problematic,” said Jamie Warner, director of undergraduate studies in political science. Under this precedent, she said, “you could see neo-Nazis giving money and saying that you have to teach Mein Kampf.“
Inside Higher Ed: How Offensive Can a Trustee Be?
Nationwide, colleges have been bolstering their programs in Arabic and the study of the Middle East, responding to growing student interest and awareness that Americans benefit from better understanding the region. At the College of the Siskiyous, in California, such a plan prompted a tirade of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim comments from a trustee, disturbing many on the campus. The trustee is refusing to apologize or resign.
The community college is planning to offer its first credit courses ever in both Arabic and Middle Eastern history. At a board meeting last month, the additional courses were included among the “consent” items for the board — non-controversial items that are typically approved collectively at the start of a board meeting, unless a board member objects.
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Houston Chronicle: TSU’s president calls for entrance standard
All applicants now accepted but a large majority fail to graduate
Texas Southern University’s new president wants to end the school’s long-standing practice of accepting all applicants, no matter their academic background, saying the policy contributes to its alarmingly low graduation rate.
President John Rudley said the change is necessary to remake the state’s largest historically black university, which has been on the ropes recently because of management missteps, sliding enrollment and bad press.
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MR Zine: Kosovo and International Law
University of Belgrade Faculty of Law Senate and Students
Here are two documents on the Kosovo question in light of international law: an appeal of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law and a diplomatic initiative of University of Belgrade law students. — Ed.
APPEAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BELGRADE FACULTY OF LAW
The Senate of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law on its session from February 19th unanimously adopted the following statement:
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The Free Press: Twenty-six academic programs put on “probation”
Twenty-six academic programs have been put on a list threatening their suspension in the latest effort to improve USM’s efficiency and reduce its spending.
The list, released last Friday by Mark Lapping, the university provost, includes many of the sciences, as well as economics, the women’s and gender studies program, several master’s programs and a couple from the Lewiston/Auburn College.
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The Daily Utah Chronicle: Bill would conceal names of animal researchers
Animal rights protesters are up in arms over a bill set to hit the Senate floor in the legislature next week that would conceal the names, personal addresses and phone numbers of animal researchers at state colleges and universities.
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The New York Times: Some Trustees Challenge Polytechnic-N.Y.U. Merger
New York University’s ambitious plan to merge with Polytechnic University in Brooklyn and acquire an engineering school is suddenly facing a rebellion from Polytechnic alumni and trustees on the eve of a final board vote.
In a letter to the board seeking to delay the vote, several trustees said Polytechnic’s administration had still not revealed all the details of the deal and was trying to railroad it through without sufficiently examining alternatives. They also said some board members might personally benefit from the deal, and so would have conflicts of interest in voting on it.
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The Boston Globe: Vets often denied academic credits
When Sean Lunde enrolled at the University of Massachusetts at Boston in 2005, he expected his four years of training and experience as an Army medic in Kosovo, Germany, and Iraq would earn him as much as 50 college credits, or about a year and a half of courses. He received none.
more stories like this
When recruiting, the military highlights its educational advantages, promising young men and women that service will give them a leg up toward a college degree and a better career. But many of the thousands of veterans who attend college after tours of duty are denied credit for military courses and specialized skills despite an accreditation system set up to award it, veterans’ advocates and students say. That forces students to take more courses than they expected to, straining already thin GI Bill benefits.
The Chronicle: Professors on YouTube, Take 2
Since writing about how professors are finding celebrity on YouTube, several people wrote in to point us to other efforts to offer lecture videos online. So here are a couple of more, with some updates on what they are up to:
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